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Minster postman Phil Knowles created a buzz in the village yesterday (July 5) when he took part in an un-bee-lievable rescue.
The Ramsgate dad-of-three was on his round when he spotted a swarm of bees in the road after the Queen bee had been killed.
Phil, who handily has been a beekeeper with the Thanet Beekeepers Association for around the last five years, went straight into action to save the colony by coaxing them into a mail crate.
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The 38-year-old, who has been a postie for almost 10 years, said: “I was at work delivering in Minster and had just finished the High Street. As I was parking up at the end of St Mildred’s Road I noticed the bees flying around the floor.
“I’ve been a Beekeeper with Thanet Beekeepers Association since 2016-2017 so upon seeing the two clusters of bees in the middle of the road I decided the best bet was to try and help them any way I could.
“I utilised a pair of mail sorting trays to try and protect the bees from getting squished by any more cars and began directing traffic around them. I messaged some fellow beekeeping members to see if anyone could help.
“There was a young woman who’ve I’ve spoken to several times before who was happy to stay with the bees and trays while I went to deliver the mail for St Mildred’s. Upon returning Jill and Steve -the fellow beekeepers- had arrived to help with some more appropriate equipment.
“Jill managed to coax the remaining bees into a small Nucleus colony which has been placed on the roof of the Corner House restaurant to potentially attract any other swarms into it.”
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The rescue ‘sting’ was not only caught on camera by resident Timothy Lauret but the talented 17-year-old also then produced a hand-sized painting of the event.
Timothy said: “I’m a young watercolour painter who likes documenting events as it’s more solid than photographs. I have autism that fuels a lot of my interest. I sketch and paint buildings around the village and have been doing so for five or so years. To commemorate this strange event I decided to do a small and quick painting.”
Phil said discovering he had made it onto canvas left him speechless, adding: “I wasn’t aware of the painting until really late last night, I’d been busy after work sorting out my son’s 17th birthday present. It is truly an amazing work of art I was rather speechless to be honest.”